Shoulder pad for garments



b May 7, 1946. s. GILLMAN SHOULDER PAD FOR GAMENTS Filed June 7, 1944 Patented May 7, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT 4OF FICE 2,399,731 7 sHoULDEa PAD Foa GARMENTS Samuel Gillman, New York, N. Y. Applicatio'jei, 194,4,seria1na 539,060 1 claim. (ol. effets) This invention relates to shoulder pads, which are sewed into garments, whether ladies dresses or mens jackets, in the shoulder .portionsv thereof. The purpose of such shoulder pads, which rest on the shoulders ofthe wearer, is to give to the garment a -"padded" effect.` In the present construction of shoulder-,padded garments, the pads are caused to take an arcuateor concavo-convex shape, in order thatl they may rest naturally on the shoulders, by the constraining effect of the garment itself and byV being ironed over an arcuate form or by other extraneous treatment.` Y

The object of this invention is to provide a shoulder pad which will have an inherent arcuate or concavo-convex shape. An allied object is to provide an arcuate-shaped shoulder pad which will not require outside constraining means and/or treatment to give it the desired arcuate shape or to maintain it in that shape. A further object of this invention is to provide a shoulder pad which will rest naturally on the shoulders of the wearer and which will t easily within the shoulder portion of the garment to which applied.

For the attainment of the foregoing and such other objects of invention as may appear or be pointed out herein, I have shown one embodiment of my invention in the accompanying drawing, wherein- Figure 1 is a top View of the improved shoulder pad of this invention.

Figure 2 is a front view, showing the convex face, of the improved shoulder pad.

Figure 3 is a section through the improved shoulder pad taken on the line 3--3 of Figure 2.

Figure 4 is a rear view, showing the concave face, of the improved shoulder pad.

Figure 5 is a sectional View, similar to Figure 3, but showing an outer covering applied to the improved shoulder pad.

Figure 6 is a schematic view showing the manner of stitching the improved pad to impart a permanent arcuate or concavo-convex shape thereto.

Shoulder pads, including the improved pad of this invention, are commonly constructed of three pieces of a facing or surface fabric, comprising a front surface piece I0 and a rear surface piece I2 both cut substantially of triangular shape, and a top connecting piece II which is sewed to the front piece I0 at the seam II f and to the rear piece I2 at the seam IIr. The side edges of front and rear pieces I0 and I2 are sewed together by an overcasting stitch I3. The inside of the pad is stuffed with wadding I5, be-

tween which and the surface fabric II), II, I2 is usually placed a lining of thin paper tissue and loose cotton bers I4.

The improvedshoulder pad of thisinvention is given its permanent arcuate or concavo-convex shape as shown most clearly in Figure 1, presenting. a kconvexfront face Ill, FigureZ, and a concave rear face I2, Figure 4, by a novel form of stitch; the stitchingpresents a different appearance when received from the front, convex face 'Ill (see Figure 2) than from its appearance as seen from thek rear, concave face I2 (see Figure 4). The front appearance of the stitching,v designatedZUF Vin Figure 2, presents a continuous `zigzag `course of diagonal threadloops, While the rear appearance of the stitching, designated 2BR in Figure 4, presents two parallel lines of thread loops, with an inclined thread loop connecting one end of the parallel lines.

The novel stitching will be described with the made at the front.

aid of the schematic thread-line diagram of Figure 6. The stitch starts at the rear of the pad, the starting point being represented by the knot 2l, and a loop 22 inclined Ydownwardly to the left At the lower end of diagonal loop 22 the needle is passed to the rear where a lower horizontal loop 23 is made, at the end of which the needle is passed to the front where a second diagonal loop 24 is made. It will be noted that front diagonal loop 24 is inclined oppositely to the first diagonal loop 22; that is, While rst loop 22 is inclined from the upper right to the lower left, the second loop 24 is inclined from the upper left to the lower right. Second diagonal 24 has its upper end at, or very close to, the point `2I of starting; but at the beginning point 2I the needle passes from rear to front, as indicated by the arrow, while at the end of second diagonal loo'p 24, the needle passes from `front to rear, also indicated by arrow. At the upper end of diagonal 24 and at the rear of the pad, a second horizontal loop 2-5 is made; second horizontal loopv 25 is parallel to the rst horizontal loop 23 but differs in that it forms the start of the upper horizontal course, while the first horizontal loop 23 starts the lower horizontal course.

The sequence of downward leftly-inolined di-` agonal 22-lower horizontal 23--upward leftlyinclined diagonal 24-upper horizontal 25 is repeated, the next succeeding sequence of the said four loops being designated 32, 33, 34 and 35 to correspond in their second order place to the reference characters 22, 23, 24 and 2-5 of the respective loops of the iirst sequence. It will be noted that the lower end of the downward leftlyinclined loop 32 is at, or Very close to, the point where the lower horizontal loop 23 ends and the upward leftly-inclined loop 24 begins; it will also be observed that at the juncture between the lower horizontal loop 23 and the upward leftlyinclined loop 24, the needle passes from rear to front (as shown by arrow) while at the end of the downward leftly-inclined diagonal 32, the needle passes from front to rear (as shown by arrow) The lower horizontal loop=33 of the second sequence (32-33-34-35) forms a continuation of the lower horizontal loop 23 of the rst sequence (22-23-24-2-5). Likewise, the upper horizontal loop 35 of the second sequencevforms a continuation of the first sequence. The third sequence is numbered, in the order of 40, in the manner used in designating the first and second sequences.

Three full sequences of the novel stitch are shown in Figure 6 together with an incomplete fourth sequence 52-53-55, i. e., having no upper horizontal loop corresponding to 25, 35 and 45. 'I'he stitch is completed by making a downward loop 55 at the rear inclined downwardly to the right; at the end of rear diagonal 55 the needle is passed from the rear to the front where a diagonal loop 56 is made at the front and inclined upwardly to the right. The thread is knotted at 57, after having been pulled tightly to give the shoulder pad the desired arcuatel or concavo-convex form. Of course, it is to be understood that the number of sequences represented in Figure 6 has been selected merely for illustrative reasons and that a greater or lesser number of sequences may be used, as desired and as y conditions require. Moreover, the stitch need not be terminated in the manner shown in Figure 6 in which terminal loops 55 and 56 have been added to the last (and incomplete) sequence 52-53-54. The stitching may, if desired, terminate at the end of upward leftly-inclined diagonal 54, or at the end of downward leftly-inclined diagonal 52, or at the end of either of the horizontal loops (but in this case the terminal knot will be at the front, rather than the rear, 0f the pad). I'have found it preferable to have both the starting point (2|, Figure 6) and the terminal point (51, Figure 6) at the ends of the upper horizontal course 25-35-45, as Shown in Figure 6 (and Figures 2-4) Having described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is as follows:

A shoulder pad in combination with means for holding the pad in permanent arcuate shape, said means consisting of stitching by thread extending from one face to the second vface of the pad at a plurality of spaced points in each of spaced lines extending transversely of the pad, the thread being led from one face of the pad to the other face, thence longitudinally, thence through the pad, thence transversely of the pad, thence through the pad, thence longitudinally of the pad, thence through the pad, and thence transversely of the pad, said form of stitching being repeated to provide a plurality of thread sections as above set forth, the thread being drawn taut and the ends held at the pad structure against the displacement.

SAMUEL GILLMAN. 

